Berry crate



A. N. JUDD.

BERRY CRATE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28, 1922.

1,43 1,81 3; Patentefi Oct. 10, 1922.

Patented Get. lfl, i922.

llglldlfild rice.

BERRY CRATE.

Application filed February 28, 1922.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that ALBERT N. JUDD, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at vVatsonville, in the county of Santa Cruz and Stateof California, has invented new and useful Improvements in Berry Crates,of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a crate suitable for use inshipping berries, fruits, vegetables and similar articles either looseor in baskets or boxes and which when arranged in tiers or stacks aswhen being transported by freight or otherwise will be held againstrelative shifting movement either longitudinally or transversely to minimize the risk of injury to the crate or its contents and also avoidcollateral inconvern iences incidental to the use of crates of theordinary commercial forms; and with these objects in view the inventionconsists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferredembodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is aperspective view of a tier or stack of two crates constructed andrelated in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the same.

Essentially the invention consists in providing each crate with meanshaving a complemental interlocking relation with corresponding means onother crates of the same construction to the end that when a pluralityof crates are arranged in a tier or stack the interlocking of the meansthus carried by the several crates will retain them in a fixed relationagainst movement either longitudinally or transversely, and theembodiment of this means which has been selected for illustration in theaccompanying drawing consists of a plate 10 which may be of metal, wood,fibre, straw board, or any other equivalent thereof occurring in a sheetor plate form of sufiicient strength and thickness to serve the purposein view of the size and weight of the crate in connection with which itis to be used, said plate being attached to the exterior surface of theend wall 11 of a crate 12 of the conventional form or of any formadapted for the trans- Serial No. 540,005.

portation of the desired commodity or product. This plate is provided atone edge as for example the upper edge with a cut away portion forming aseat 13 which in the construction illustrated extends transverselythroughout a distance approximating the length of the end wall of thecrate, and is provided at the opposite or lower edge with a tongue 14corresponding in dimensions with the cut away portion forming the seat13 so that when one crate equipped with the device embodying theinvention is placed upon the top of any crate similarly equipped thetongue of one interlocks with the seat of the other as shown in Figure 1while the tongue has a lateral bearing against the end wall of the othercrate, and inasmuch as a plate of this construction is applied to eachend of each crate, it will be obvious that when two crates are thuspositioned with their holding plates in interlocked relation, each isheld against movement either longitudinally or transversely withrelation to the other.

As a further means of facilitating the handling and tiering or stackingof crates which particularly in freight cars frequently involves thestacking of ten or more in a single tier, it is preferred to connecteach two crates at the ends by tapes 15 adhesively attached to theholding plates and spanning the joint between them as indicated inFigure 1. These tapes or retainers may be of such material as to permitof their being cut by a knife passed through the joint between thetongue of one crate and the seat of the other, but when in place theyserve to facilitate handling of the crates in pairs or larger numbers asmay be feasible according to the weight of the contents.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and useful is 1.A shipping crate provided on its end walls with offset complementalinterlocking elements for engagement with the corresponding elements ofadjacent crates arranged in the same tieror stack therewith, andconsisting of a plate provided at its opposite edges respectively with aseat and a tongue of corresponding dimensions.

2. A shipping crate provided on its end walls with ofi'set complementalinterlocking elements for engagement with the corresponding elements ofadjacent crates arranged in the same tier or stack therewith,

and consisting of a plate provided at its upper edge with a cut awayportion forming ture.

ALBERT N. JUDD.

